Case study 1: Children's horoscope of Veronika

by Christl Oelmann

With this case study, we begin a series of selected interpretation examples that Christl Oelmann published on her website between 2010 and 2019 for practice purposes for learners. We thank her for her kind permission to republish them here.

Question

Veronika's mother comes to a consultation with the following problem: Veronika is not stupid, but in class, when someone asks something, and also when she is doing homework, when her mother studies with her, she immediately falls into a kind of ʺexamination anxiety", and then she cannot even remember things she knows. Where does this come from, and what can her parents do? What would you tell her?

Example interpretation

Veronika

Let's start with Veronika's chart and look here for the factors relevant to the question. It is about knowing, learning, thinking, and, very importantly, communicating and talking to each other. But also, in the case of "exam anxiety," fear. So Mercury, the 3rd house, and Saturn are the essential points first of all, and also the 6th house, Veronika's everyday life, her workplace: school.

Mercury in Aries, far from the Sun and in the 7th house, shows a girl with fast-changing ideas, spontaneous inspirations, versatilely interested but quickly bored because she thinks she has already grasped everything (Aries). She is self-critical and inclined to objective thought sequences (Mercury far from the Sun), but since it is in the 7th house, it is essential for Veronika to "shine" in front of others with this Mercury. She wants to be valued by the other person for her knowledge, ideas, and good inspirations, which the square to the Moon in the 10th house reinforces. For one thing, the 10th house cusp is in Gemini, with this same Mercury as the ruler. Secondly, the Moon in the 10th house shows Veronika's desire and longing to be perceived in public, in society, as "the knowledgeable one" (Mercury ruler of 10) and as the "dear, kind girl" (Moon in Cancer in house 10). The 10th house is as significant for children as it is for adults, except that their "public" is their school environment, and their "society" is their private environment (parents of friends and schoolmates or friends of parents).

The 3rd house cusp is in Scorpio, and its ruler, Pluto, casts an exact trine to Veronika's Sun/Venus/North Node conjunction in the 8th house. So when she studies, she has an "all or nothing" claim on herself, meaning she wants to understand and grasp things profoundly, but that doesn't sit well with either the Aries Mercury or the Sun/Venus in Aries. So Veronika lives here with a massive contradiction within herself. What makes it even more difficult for her is that Mercury casts a square to the Moon, meaning she only learns well when she is in the right mood, and this very Moon forms a trine to Uranus, and from there, the free-will aspect comes into it. And - this is well known - the Aries sign becomes strong only when it can live its independent will.

So, knowledge, learning, and showing what she can and knows are essential to Veronika, and it is quite possible that she defines herself through this at this age. But all this only works well when she feels like it.

If the teacher asks her to do something, or if she has to "prove" her knowledge during homework, she may not be willing to do so, not be in the right mood, or not want to do it.

Let's now move on to the "exam anxiety" factor the mother describes.

Where are signs of anxiety in the horoscope?

Quite prominently, Saturn and its square to the descending lunar node and the Sun immediately catch the eye. Saturn on the descending Moon's Node can always bring fear of failure, the fear of not being enough, not being good enough, and not being able to stand up in front of others. Since Saturn is at the cusp of the 11th house (friends, groups, like-minded people, schoolmates) and rules the 5th house (how do I position myself on stage with what I can do), it also immediately shows where these fears come into play.

The Virgo Ascendant reinforces this (with Mercury as the ruler!). Veronika shows herself to the world cautiously, hesitantly, a little afraid, and only when she has grasped something completely (has it under control). Finally, Jupiter is in house 2, with very high self-demands on her abilities, talents, and what she can do.

Veronika's high demands on herself and her knowledge, the great desire to show what she can do and knows, and at the same time, the fears that she is NOT enough, that she doesn't know enough, very likely cause a kind of paralysis when it comes to showing herself, when she has to prove her knowledge. The 5th house, with a Capricorn cusp, with Chiron and Mars conjunct Neptune (paralysis in action) inside, shows the issue again. Let me point out one of the Chiron fears (here in the 5th house):

If I show my strength, what I can do, and how good I am in the house where Chiron is, I am afraid of not being loved anymore, of not getting attention.

Veronika's mother

I never interpret a children's horoscope without the horoscope of (at least) the mother. Therefore, here is also a short look at her horoscope.

She is double Capricorn with Mercury at the Ascendant square Pluto. "Knowledge is power" could be her motto (and it is, as she confirmed in the consultation). Her natal and solar ruler Saturn, also being the dispositor of Mercury, is at the cusp of the 9th house in Scorpio, so she has firm, perhaps even fixed ideas about knowledge, learning, school, homework, and, generally, how things should be. And since the mother's Lilith forms a conjunction with the Sun, Mercury, and Ascendant, with a trine to Chiron in the 3rd house, and Veronika's Lilith has an opposition to Chiron in the 5th house, one can assume that "knowledge and ability are power" is a family theme (which Veronika's mother also confirmed). Also, very important, the mother's Sun and Lilith form a square to Veronika's descending Moon's Node. The mother's and family's beliefs work into the child's fears of failure and reinforce, even solidify them.

It is also worth mentioning that the Earth Mercury and the Earth Sun of the mother form a square to the Fire Sun of Veronika, so there is a danger that the Earth of the mother extinguishes the joy, spontaneity, and ingenuity of the child. (Earth extinguishes fire).

We could, of course, go into many more details of synastry, but for the mother's question, what we have worked out can suffice.

In this consultation, I first discussed the factors in Veronika's horoscope relevant to the question. But then I quickly moved on to the mother's chart to discuss her verbal and nonverbal demands on Veronika's academic performance. The mother's claims result from her own childhood and family claims. Then, of course, the innate expectations Veronika has from herself (horoscope) and those she incorporated into her script as a child from the messages of family and environment (IC, 4th house, script axis in Sagittarius).

If the mother manages to see her part in Veronika's "exam anxiety," and if, as a result, she can be more relaxed about Veronika's school performance, then Veronika's fears of failure will diminish. At the same time, the mother must allow herself to dissolve the family myth that "knowledge is power" and to understand and feel, first for herself, that not knowing does not equal powerlessness.

Then, she will also be able to signal to the child both verbally and nonverbally that she is allowed to make mistakes, that mistakes are part of life and learning, and that the world does not end with a wrong answer or a bad grade. And most importantly, Veronika will feel that she is loved, regardless of knowledge or school grades. She will be allowed to know a lot, maybe someday more than her mother (?), and, at the same time, have bad marks from time to time or give incorrect answers.

But the way there is NOT through tutoring, more learning, or even psychological help for the child, but through the mother's change, the change of her wishes, her ideas, and, ultimately, her conditioning.

Note:
This case study was published with the kind permission of the author Christl Oelmann.

Author:
Christl Oelmann, born 1945, Sun Capricorn, Moon Capricorn, Ascendant Aquarius. Intensive involvement with astrology since 1993. 1997 Training with Hajo Banzhaf and Brigitte Theler. 2001 Examination before the German Astrological Association (DAV). From 2001 to 2021 astrological teaching at home and abroad.
For about 50 years, intensive involvement with Buddhism and in particular with the principles of Buddhist psychology. From 2007 until today, self-awareness workshops on the topic of "Anchoring spirituality in everyday life" have been offered in Germany and Switzerland. They are based on parts of Buddhist teaching and its psychology.
Website: https://www.kinderastrologiemuenchen.de,
Contact: c.oelmann@kinderastrologiemuenchen.de

© 2023 - Christl Oelmann